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For those reeling from the ‘virtual whiplash’ of following so many threads, or for those who were unable to attend, here are a few excerpts and key points from panelists and participants of The Rambling Epicure’s first live Twitter chat on the future of food writing. Very special thanks to our panelists: Amanda Hesser, John Birdsall, Corie Brown, Dianne Jacob, Monica Bhide, Gloria Nicol, and Wilson Dizard III.

Since the April 20, 2012, #futurefoodwriting live Twitter chat was such a success, I’ve decided to start posting writing tips from time to time. I’m thrilled so many people are interested in improving their writing.

The first quote is not about food writing in particular, but about writing in general. It applies to food or blog writing, or to any other kind of writing. One could say the same about the second quote: always seek to make your writing better. Check it and check it again. If you’re still not sure, have someone else you trust read it. Making excellence a habit, of course, relates to whatever we do in life, not just writing.

To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.―Aristotle

Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.–Aristotle

Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 B.C.; the alabaster mantle is a modern addition.

For those of you who haven’t participated in live chats, here are a few basic guidelines. It’s much simpler than you might think.

If you use Tweet Chat (it can be used online without downloading), you can create columns or “streams”, as they call them by clicking on the +Add Stream button at the top left of the screen. You can then create a stream for #futurefoodwriting and @RamblingEpicure (and your Twitter handle). Any questions or replies meant for you should also come in to your own Twitter stream through the addition of your Twitter handle. You can also follow the hashtag on Tweet Chat by simply typing in the hashtag. You can set the time delay, the minimum being 5 seconds.

To summarize, if you seriously want to take part in the conversation, it is wise to have both windows open at the same time so that you won’t miss anything. There will be a lot of participants, and there are a lot of panelists, so it might be lively and fast.

To ask or reply to a question, simply send a Tweet, as usual, but make sure to include:

The #futurefoodwriting hashtag so everyone who is participating in the chat can see it.

Include the Twitter handle of the person to whom you are addressing the question, or of the person to whom you are replying.

For example, if you want to ask here @ZesterDaily a question, it should look like this:

@ZesterDaily Is funded food reporting the only way of maintaining investigative food journalism in the future? #futurefoodwriting

As a panelist, if you’re answering a question from @JonellGalloway, from your own Twitter address, your Twitter reply should look like this:

@JonellGalloway I believe funded food reporting is only one way of dealing with the problem. #futurefoodwriting

Another important point is that you should prepare your questions ahead of time to ensure that they contain no more than 140 characters. You also risk losing track of the conversation if you haven’t done this ahead of time.

John Birdsall has just confirmed that he will be on board as a panelist tomorrow, Friday, April 20, 2012, for our Future of Food Writing live Twitter chat, at 2 p.m. EST / 8 p.m. Paris time @RamblingEpicure #futurefoodwriting.

Birdsall is Senior Editor for the online magazine CHOW.

If you have questions prepared for him, please tweet them on @RamblingEpicure to @John_Birdsall with the hashtag #futurefoodwriting during the live chat to indicate that your question is for him.

Here is some more reading to inspire you for tomorrow’s live Twitter chat @RamblingEpicure at 2 p.m. EST, 8 p.m. Paris time, hashtag #futurefoodwriting. We look forward to you joining the conversation. For more details and more reference reading, click the related links below.

by documentary

Where I grew up, we used to have grocers who relied on their suppliers, and knew about their practices in depth. With supermarket chains now dominating our supply, and the Internet at our fingertips, we have become our own grocers. In a state of (sometimes deserved) scepticism of the modern supply chain, we have taken it upon ourselves to source information about the food we choose — and everything else that we participate in or consume. Is it organic? Is it fair trade? Is it local, sustainable, traceable? Readers want to know everything, and product ‘transparency’ has migrated from the occasional call to dodgy corporations, to a granted right of the consumer.

This hunger for knowledge is no longer reserved for the trendy foodies who can afford it; it’s alive and well amongst the general public. At the same time as this rise in “food awareness”, there has been an undeniable eruption of personal food blogs, shaping change not only in the volume of food writers and readers but in what they want out of the content they read. It’s not just food writing, but journalism on the whole that is changing, marked by events like the last hard-copy edition of Gourmet in 2009, and highlighted by the media in pieces like the recent documentary on how TheNew York Times is learning to co-evolve with its readers.

As in every other industry, multi-faceted staff are the new standard; you can’t swing a virtual cat without hitting a PR-pro-turned-web-designer-turned-backyard-farmer (or some combination thereof). And although modern food journalists hail from equally varied backgrounds, they are now forced to compete with a sea of online food bloggers who have split personalities specializing in editing, photography, web design, networking and promotion. For those hopefuls hunting a career in food writing, the task seems almost insurmountable. Food & Environment Reporting Network last week struck a chord with many published and aspiring writers, by painting a brutally honest picture of the financial state of the industry, citing advertising dollars as a central issue. Hesser did, however, point readers in the direction of building a varied skill set that would provide a springboard for work in a new era in the food industry. With the information overflow diluting advertising funds, a career more directly engaged with food production appears to be the best way to make ends meet. By all means, write, she says — but make any other venture the main priority.

For those participating in the Twitter chat @RamblingEpicure on Friday, April 20 at 2 p.m. EST and 8 p.m. Paris time, here is a reading list to get you up-to-date on what other people in the food world have been saying. We look forward to your questions and comments on Friday. See you there!

5 days agoby jonell_gallowayWe all have to let off steam from time to time. I do it through words, sometimes harsh, sometimes sweet; Venice does it through windows and steam-pipes. Hand-shaped bricks were laid onto this marshland over a thousand years ago and still stand, the alder wood foundation stakes digging deep to reach the bottom sands of this shallow lagoon. This wall tells a tall story, filled in over the centuries with newer bricks and stones, later covered with plaster, itself now crumbling with age, like family stories that change tones with the times and are embellished with black or white lace